William a



(No Model.)v

W. A. VALENTINE.

METAL BUTTON CLEANING SHIELD. No. 592,894. Patented Nov. 2,1897.

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UNITED ST T S IVILLIAM A. VALENTINE, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

METAL-BUTTON-CLEANING SHIELD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 592,894, dated November 2, 1897. Application filed January 29, 1897. Serial No. 621,200. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A.VALENTINE,

,of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which make and use the same.

My invention relates to certain new and use ful improvements in metal-button-cleaning shields the object being to provide a shield device adapted to receive and hold the button and while said button is being cleaned shield the uniform to which the button is attached from cominginto contact with the powder or other cleaning compound employed.

To this end my invention consists in certain novel constructions, combinations, and arrangements of parts in a device of the class specified, as will be hereinafter more fully described, and specifically set forth in the ap pended claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a top or plan view of the button-cleaning shield, the openings in the two shields being in alinement for reception of the button. Fig. 2 is a similar view, but showing the it appertains to 7 button held in position and the slots of the disks out of alinement or coincidence. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional View of the button-holding shield, taken on a line through the openings therein.

It is a well-known fact that brass and other buttons which are so extensively employed .upon the uniforms of military men, railroad employees, coach men &c. ,readily become tarnished and require to be frequently cleaned.

My invention contemplates the provision of an improved construction of device adapted to receive and hold the button in such position that it may be readily cleaned, and also serving as a shield to prevent the cleansing compound from coming into contact with and injuring the cloth of'the garment to which the buttons are attached.

In carrying out myinvention I employ two disks 1 2, connected together at the center by a metal eyelet 3, applied in the usual way and having a flaring lateral opening 4, in communication with passage 5 in the disks, which terminate in an enlarged hole or slot 6, adapted to receive the button, as will be presentlydescribed. The two disks may be constructed of cardboard, stiff cloth, rubber, or any other suitable material and are connected by the metal eyelet in such a manner that While they are securely attached relatively to each other they may be revolved independently on the said eyelet in order that the two disk-openings may be brought into and out of coincidence with each other.

Fig. 2 shows the button 7 inserted from below through the enlarged circular slot 6 and illustrates the first step. The shield device is then moved so as to lift the shank of the button into the opening of the eyelet 3 by means of the inclined outlet 4 therefrom. In this position the head of the button rests upon the head or upper end of the eyelet and has position on one side of the shield, with the shield between it and the cloth 8 to which it is attached. One of the said disks 1 2 is then turned so as to bring its passages leading to v the eyelet out of coincidence with the passage in the other disks, so that the button is securely confined in the outlet and there is no passage through the plate to the cloth. By this means the buttons may be readily cleaned and shined without the garment becoming soiled or injured by the cleansing powder or compound, as the disk shield is interposed between the button and fabric of the garment and shields the same.

After the button has been cleaned, by merely turning one of the disks back to its original position, so as to bring the openingin the two disks into coincidence, the device may be readily disconnected from the button, as will be clearly understood.

My invention provides a simple and effect ive form of device for the purposes stated and which may be manufactured at a very small cost.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A metal-button-cleanin g shield, comprising two disks of sustantially equal diameter, each formed with a central opening having a flar- ICO inglateral passage terininatingin an enlarged button to be cleaned, substantially as deslot, and a metal eyelet passed through the scribed said central openings in the disks and pivot- In testimony whereof I have signed this ally connecting the said disks together and specification in the presence of two subscrib- 5 provided with a flaringlateral opening in coming witnesses.

munication with the flaring lateral passa e in a 7i Y T T a one disk and adapted to be brought into com- X ALLA ninnication with the similar passage in the \Yitnesses:

other disk, the said eyelet servingboth to ANDREW SMITH,

IO pivot the disks and receive the shank of the HORATIO B. DORMAN. 

